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EBAL football roundup: San Ramon Valley High overcomes Foothill

By Matt Schwab

Contra Costa Times

Posted:
10/19/2012 11:15:03 PM PDT

Updated:
10/19/2012 11:53:32 PM PDT

San Ramon Valley High quarterback Cameron Birse took everything that an aggressive Foothill defense could throw at him Friday night, and he calmly led the visiting Wolves to a 31-21 East Bay Athletic League victory.

With a gutsy effort, Birse passed for 225 yards and four touchdowns. The victory kept San Ramon Valley (4-4, 4-1 EBAL) in a tie for first place, one week after the Wolves fell 41-38 to California.

"He's gritty," San Ramon Valley coach Mark Kessler said of Birse, who played with a brace on his left knee. "Our backup quarterback unfortunately had a situation and he couldn't get here until halftime, so we were a little nervous there."

Justin Bangay made two big plays to clinch the victory. He caught a 23-yard touchdown pass from Birse to cap an 11-play, 78-yard drive with 1:52 left to up the lead to 31-21, along with Matt Anderson's extra point.

Then Bangay intercepted Foothill quarterback Kyle Kearns to end the Falcons' desperation march.

San Ramon Valley was thrilled to be able finish off a quality opponent in a big game.

"We've had struggles in doing that, and it was great to see our kids do that," Kessler said. "We think we learned football. We're learning, slowly but surely."

Foothill cut the deficit to 24-21 with 7:50 left on a 10-yard completion from Kearns to Jack Finney, but the Wolves would not be denied.

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Foothill (4-4, 2-2) was led by Kearns' 220 yards passing and two touchdowns. He was picked off twice, both on deflections.

C.J. Cornwell led the Grizzlies in both rushing and receiving, pacing a California attack that did not have to punt.

Cornwell scored on a 9-yard run just 33 seconds into the game to put the Grizzlies up 7-0, and would go on to score three more touchdowns in helping California build a 35-14 halftime lead.

Cornwell finished with 123 yards on just four carries and hauled in six passes for 101 yards.

"We were really just trying to take what the defense gave us," Grizzlies coach Eric Billeci said, "We played a better defensive game tonight, too."

California also got a nice performance from quarterback Cameron Owen, who in addition to two scores to Cornwell, found Shane Haley on a 37-yard touchdown pass to help pad the Grizzlies' lead.

Owen finished with 169 yards passing, completing 9 of 14 passes.

The Cowboys were able to mount several impressive drives, including an 85-yard march in the first quarter capped by quarterback Max Kreger's 1-yard keeper to tie the score at 7-7.

Livermore was also able to go 80 yards in the second quarter to pull within 27-14 on Kreger's second score of the night, that one a 2-yard sneak.

But the Cowboys were unable to match the Grizzlies' potent attack. Louie Hernandez led Livermore with 110 yards rushing, and Kreger chipped in with 108 on the ground.

-- Matt Rempel, correspondent

Amador Valley 34, Granada 28: The Dons (4-4, 2-2 EBAL) left their fans with a happy homecoming after Alejandro Apodaca scored on a 5-yard run to complete a dramatic come-from-behind victory over the Matadors (3-5, 0-4).

Granada scored on its opening possession of the second half for a 28-7 lead, but the Dons erased that advantage with 27 unanswered points to close the game.

A major reason for the comeback was the play of Amador Valley's Kyle Moreno.

The senior quarterback finished the first half 4 of 15 with two interceptions, but he went 12 of 15 for 191 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the second half.

Justin Cruz and Grant Miller were Moreno's favorite targets during the rally, combining for 141 yards on eight receptions in the second half.

Granada had a chance to end the rally but a failed fourth-down conversion gave Amador Valley the ball back in its own territory with less than 2﻿1/2 minutes left to set up the game-winning score.

Running back Casey Soltis led the charge for Granada, rushing for 90 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.